VIRB

« I don't know, so maybe I'm not » the T-shirst said. Had it been another time or place, I probably would've chuckled and moved on. But I was on Bourbon Street when this postmodern homage to Descartes's proclamation, "I think, therefore I am" appeared on a young man weaving toward me. I had just had dinner in the French Quarter after a long day of data digestion and schmoozing at the Society of Neuroscience Conference, an annual get-together of thirty thousand or so brain researchers from around the world. The sound of Dixieland tunes, the aroma of stale beer, and the sight of scantily clad women dancing on runways inside dark bars had me contemplating the years and life changes that had come and gone since I myself had weaved down Bourbon Sreet during my college days in Louisiana. I headed back to my hotel, reflecting on my past and present life and wondering about what, all of a sudden, seemed to me to be the big question brain researchers should be asking: "What makes us who we are?"

- Joseph LeDoux, from The Synaptic Self